Jiří Sobotka

Jiří Sobotka (6 June 1911 – 20 May 1994), also known as Georges Sobotka, was a former Czechoslovak footballer, who played internationally for Czechoslovakia (23 caps, 8 goals),[1] and participated at the 1934 FIFA World Cup when Czechoslovakia came in second.

Jiří Sobotka
Sobotka in 1961
Personal information
Full name Jiří Sobotka
also known as: Georges Sobotka
Date of birth (1911-06-06)6 June 1911
Place of birth Prague, Austria-Hungary
Date of death 20 May 1994(1994-05-20) (aged 82)
Place of death Intragna, Switzerland
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
Čechoslovan Košíře
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1931–1939 Slavia Prague 311 (77)
1939–1941 Hajduk Split 34 (17)
1942 Slavia Prague
1943–1946 SK Baťa Zlín
1946–1951 Chaux-de-Fonds
National team
1934–1937 Czechoslovakia 23 (8)
Teams managed
1940–1941 Hajduk Split
1946–1959 Chaux-de-Fonds
1959–1961 Feyenoord
1961–1965 FC Basel
1964–1965 Switzerland
1965–1967 FC Biel-Bienne
1968–1969 Charleroi
1970–1971 UE Sant Andreu
1971–1972 Chaux-de-Fonds
1972–1973 FC Aarau
1973–1976 Bellinzona
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He played for SK Slavia Praha, Hajduk Split (winning the Banovina of Croatia first league[2]) and FC La Chaux-de-Fonds.

During his period in Split, he played 36 league matches scoring 17 goals in the 1939-40[3] and 1940-41[4] seasons. Before arriving to Yugoslavia, he had been a player-coach in Switzerland with FC Winterthur.[5]

After his playing career, he coached numerous clubs in Switzerland[6] and won 6 Swiss cups.[7] He also coached Charleroi in Belgium[8] UE Sant Andreu in Spain,[9] and Switzerland national team.[10]

Curiosity

A well-documented curiosity was the fact that during the winter break of their 1963–64 season FC Basel travelled on a world tour. This saw them visit British Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia, Mexico and the United States. As first team manager Sobotka was together with 16 players and 15 members of staff, supporters and journalists participated in this world tour from 10 January to 10 February 1964. Team captain Bruno Michaud filmed the events with his super-8 camara. The voyage around the world included 19 flights and numerous bus and train journeys. Club chairman, Lucien Schmidlin, led the group, but as they arrived in the hotel in Bangkok, he realised that 250,000 Swiss Francs were missing. The suitcase that he had filled with the various currencies was not with them. He had left it at home, but fortunately Swiss Air were able to deliver this to him within just a few days. During the tour a total of ten friendly/test games were played, these are listed in their 1963–64 season. Five wins, three draws, two defeats, but also three major injuries resulted from these test matches. A broken leg for Peter Füri, an eye injury for Walter Baumann and a knee injury for Bruno Michaud soon reduced the number of players to just 13.[11]

Honours

As player
Czechoslovak Championship: 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937
1940–41 Croatian First League
1934 World Cup runner-up

As manager
Swiss Cup: 1948*, 1951*, 1954, 1955, 1957
Swiss Championship: 1954, 1955
Dutch League: 1961
Swiss Cup: 1963
(*Sobotka won the 1948 and 1951 Swiss Cups as player-manager)

See also

References
  1. Jiri Sobotka - International Appearances
  2. Croatia - Championship Winning Squads
  3. 1939-40 league stats at Hajduk Split official website.(in Croatian)
  4. 1940-41 league stats at Hajduk Split official website.(in Croatian)
  5. All-time coaches Archived 11 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine at FC Winterthur official website, retrieved 24-11-2015
  6. Switzerland - Trainers of First and Second Division Clubs Archived 27 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Coupe Suisse
  8. DH.be - Le Sporting centenaire!
  9. Edición del viernes, 26 junio 1970, página 9 - Hemeroteca - elmundodeportivo.es
  10. Switzerland - International Matches
  11. Zindel, Josef (2018), "Die ersten 125 Jahre: 1964", The unbelievable world tour, pages 60 and 61, Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel
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